# Charring Inside of Meerschaum Bowl?



## rhmills (Nov 26, 2010)

Is it possible to char the inside of the entire bowl of a Meerschaum pipe? There is black stuff all over in mine and it doesn't come off very well and I make sure there is no cake left after I am done. Thanks!

Ryan


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## Contrabass Bry (May 3, 2010)

Charring of meerschaum takes a bit of doing and usually occurs on the rim from exposure to the flame used when lighting.

I highly doubt you have charred the entire lining of the bowl. Your tongue would be a useless hunk of seeping shoe leather residing between your teeth if you had smoked with enough force and heat to accomplish that.

Meerschaum is very porous, which is what makes it such a fine material for pipes. It absorbs moisture and tars quite readily and I think this is what you are seeing.

Part of the coloring process requires these tars and other elements to travel through the entire thickness of the pipe walls. The wax on the exterior acts as a boundary behind which these coloring components build up.

This is a good thing! Hopefully you are only using a clean paper towel to wipe the inside with. Alcohol is pretty much a no-no when it comes to cleaning the bowl of a meer since you don't want to have the exterior wax and tars working their merry way to the exterior to be disintegrated from the inside. I probably didn't explain that well, but no matter.
Leave the alcohol for the stem (and the shank, if you must).

Have you found any off flavors or smells that would suggest that the meer is being burned?


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## rhmills (Nov 26, 2010)

So the jet black stuff on the inside of the bowl is just tar that will eventually make its way to the outside? I have not noticed any off flavors or aromas.


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## Contrabass Bry (May 3, 2010)

Most certainly. It's actually kind of neat. If you have the chance, let the bowl rest for a few days. It should start lightening up as the stuff wicks toward the exterior of the pipe. Mine does.

If it's a pressed meer, it might not.

I say, smoke on!


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## dmkerr (Oct 27, 2008)

The black stuff is what happens when you burn tobacco. It won't cake if you wipe the buildup off but it'll still turn black, the same as briar or clay or anything else you set fire to.

And I'm not sure about the tar moving to the outside of the pipe thing. If you're asking about coloring, that's a combination of the heat, the wax and the grain of the stone. The heat melts the wax which adheres to the grain (yes, Virginia, there IS grain in meerschaum!) and causes the coloration. The "tar" itself doesn't move to the outside of the bowl - the heat does. Or maybe I'm just not understanding the question.


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## dmkerr (Oct 27, 2008)

dmkerr said:


> The heat melts the wax which adheres to the grain (yes, Virginia, there IS grain in meerschaum!) and causes the coloration.


I could have stated this better.

The heat doesn't necessarily "melt" the wax because if it melted all of it, there would be no coloration. The heat starts the migration process whereby the wax on the outside of the bowl migrates inward and causes the stone itself to color. So it migrates in and forms the patina on the outside of the bowl that then adheres to the grain of the stone. The tar from the inside of the bowl plays no part in this process as far as I know.

You'll find that the shank of a meer pipe tends to color faster as a rule. I'm not sure why this is but my guess is that the shank is cooler than the bowl and the wax doesn't completely melt under cooler temps. So it's important to abide by at least one of two things: Either tone down your puffing cadence so as not to melt all the wax, or rewax the pipe regularly. How often depends on how fast you puff.


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## Contrabass Bry (May 3, 2010)

So are you saying that if you mearly (meer-ly?) applied heat to the inside of a meer bowl that it would color in the same manner as smoking tobacco? Interesting.

When I've seen the original waxing process, it doesn't appear to be long enough to penetrate the meer very deep (maybe 1/8"). In my mind, the creates the outer "boundary" behind which the "coloring agents" collect. Sure, the heat of smoking will soften the wax and provide a wicking action (both ways: heat draws wax inward, cooling shrinks back to the surface) though the grain/pores of the stone.

I may have to find a sacrificial meer to do my own research on. My bet is on the perception that the color builds near the surface boundary, not evenly though the stone.
Briars appear to do that same thing. Many references to "well smoked" brairs getting darker and having an "oily" feel to the outside.

The mystery remains....

Sweet meerschaum, forever hold your secrets!


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## Hermit (Aug 5, 2008)

Contrabass Bry said:


> This is a good thing! Hopefully you are only using a clean paper towel to wipe the inside with. Alcohol is pretty much a no-no when it comes to cleaning the bowl of a meer since you don't want to have the exterior wax and tars working their merry way to the exterior to be disintegrated from the inside. I probably didn't explain that well, but no matter.
> Leave the alcohol for the stem (and the shank, if you must).


I never heard anyone say that.
I clean out my Meer bowls with alcohol after every use.


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## drastic_quench (Sep 12, 2008)

This antique meerschaum was simply smoked and occasionally wiped with a soft cloth. I've got my first meer coming, and I'm planning on keeping it nice and simple and mainly just smoking the thing. I'll use a pipe cleaner, and I guess I'll use a paper towel in the bowl from time to time, but I can't see myself re-waxing it or giving it an alcohol swab. I'm not saying these things don't work, but keeping it simple seems to work well enough for me.


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## Jack Straw (Nov 20, 2008)

If you read closely, the soft cloth comment in that article was in reference to shining the outside.


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## drastic_quench (Sep 12, 2008)

Jack Straw said:


> If you read closely, the soft cloth comment in that article was in reference to shining the outside.


I know. I mentioned that more as a response to the recent questions about re-waxing a meer.


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## MarkC (Jul 4, 2009)

dmkerr said:


> And I'm not sure about the tar moving to the outside of the pipe thing. If you're asking about coloring, that's a combination of the heat, the wax and the grain of the stone. The heat melts the wax which adheres to the grain (yes, Virginia, there IS grain in meerschaum!) and causes the coloration. The "tar" itself doesn't move to the outside of the bowl - the heat does. Or maybe I'm just not understanding the question.


I've got to say, this is contrary to everything I've read on the subject in the past, or at least my interpretation of it. I've always heard that as the pipe warmed, the wax migrated inwards to the tars, which were then drawn out with the wax as the pipe cooled. I'll fully admit that none of it makes sense to me no matter how it's done. I'm still trying to figure out why the wax would go back out.


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## dmkerr (Oct 27, 2008)

MarkC said:


> I've got to say, this is contrary to everything I've read on the subject in the past, or at least my interpretation of it. I've always heard that as the pipe warmed, the wax migrated inwards to the tars, which were then drawn out with the wax as the pipe cooled. I'll fully admit that none of it makes sense to me no matter how it's done. I'm still trying to figure out why the wax would go back out.


So you've heard the wax goes through the bowl and pulls out the tars? Is that like the magic bullet? 

Not sure how wax would go all the way through the bowl. Heat does but wax is a solid so it would have to be a physics-altering solid.

Hey, none of this makes sense to me, either!


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## dmkerr (Oct 27, 2008)

Contrabass Bry said:


> So are you saying that if you mearly (meer-ly?) applied heat to the inside of a meer bowl that it would color in the same manner as smoking tobacco? Interesting.


Ok, this comment brought it into focus. Now I understand the question.

No, simply heating the bowl won't do. The tobacco byproducts migrate through the bowl with the heat and are sort of "trapped" by the wax on the outside of the bowl.

Duh! For some silly reason I had the initial bowl char on my brain. When I heard "tar", I was thinking... well, I don't know WHAT I was thinking! Suffice it to say that wax is pointless if tobacco isn't smoked in the pipe. It'll never color.

Time to up those meds. Thanks for bringing me back to earth. Sheesh! Sorry to confuse everybody.


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## Mr. Moustache (Jan 23, 2011)

dmkerr said:


> So you've heard the wax goes through the bowl and pulls out the tars? Is that like the magic bullet?
> 
> Not sure how wax would go all the way through the bowl. Heat does but wax is a solid so it would have to be a physics-altering solid.
> 
> Hey, none of this makes sense to me, either!


I believe that the tension created on the edge of the bowl from the bees wax heating during the smoke coupled with the porousness of the meerschaum and the expansion and contraction of the bowl all work together to pull the tar and oils to the outside of the bowl. The main purpose of the bees wax is to shield against the oil in your hands and moisture in the air, both for coloring and longevity of the pipe. This however is only information I have compiled from various sources to which the reliability is unknown.


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